carry on luggage

Advice, please leave lots of time between your connection, especially because they are not on the same airlines. We just flew Air France from Philadelphia and had to change in Paris for Rome. Air France actually had shuttle to get us to our next plane since our plane was late arriving. That connection flight was at another terminal and we had to go through security and get our passport stamped. If they hadn't driven us we would never had made our connection. Our check bags were forwarded, so we did not have to claim them in Paris, but they did not make the connection and we did not get them to the following night. Our bags flew Alitalia from Paris to Rome and my rainjacket was missing from my luggage. Charles De Gaule an enormous airport. See what help if any you get flying Continental and then Alitalia. We talked to people who barely or didn't make a connection there. They had to be placed on another flight. Luckily there seems to be alot of flights from Paris to Rome. The question is if next flight is full or can fit you on. Good luck. Once you get to Italy it will be worth it.

We're curious about the same issue. We're flying the new Air France (Seattle-Paris) then connect with another Air France flight (which is really Alitalia) and itlooks like the weight limit for a carry on for each airline if different (12 kg vs 5 kg). Will our bags get "weighed) when we board Alitalia?

In my experience you can carry that backpack as a "purse" or "briefcase". But I know that airlines in general are making overhauls to their carry-on baggage rules. If Continental and Alitalia say on their websites that they allow a carry on and a briefcase or purse then you should be fine as long as the backpack isn't pushing the limits of carry on allowances.

Another thing to consider, there have been many, many posts on this Helpline about Alitalia being an atrocious airline to fly especially in regards to customer service and baggage handling issues addressed from gate and ticketing agents. The airline is deeply in trouble and the morale within the company is horrendous. The employees have been known to take this out on passengers recently. Expect to be treated poorly from Alitalia. But you can make it go more smoothly with a little bit of empathy and a lot of patience.

We flew American (3 plane changes in US)from Redmond, OR to Rome. We were allowed to keep our carry-on bags in the overheard on all of the American Airlines connections.However, on the last leg of our journey from Amsterdam to Rome(a code share with ES Brussels air) our carry-ons were taken away from us at the gate (their limits were something like 11 pounds).My daughter didn't see her carry-on bag for 8 long days!The only people who got to bring their carry-ons aboard had bags about the size of a briefcase.We learned our lesson not to expect other airlines to have the same size/weight limits as the US carriers.From now on we will be much smarter, packing less (although 11 pounds isn't easy, especially with teenage girls)and cross packing in case our bags can't stay with us.

I have 2.5 hrs between flights in Paris - sound like enough time? Am also seriously thinking about eliminating a LOT of what I planned to take. These stories are scary!

If you arrive in Paris on time, 2.5 hours is plenty of time to make your connection. To determine your arrival terminal and departure terminal, plus how to get from one to the other, go here: www.easycdg.com.

Roz: 2.5 hours sounds like enough time. There are no guarantees, of course. On our recent trip, we had 3 hours between 1st and 2nd leg, but due to weather our first leg was delayed 2 hours, and all of a sudden we were worried whether the 3 hours was enough! Based on the way things are going re delays in the airline industry, for myself in the future I have made a note to try to have connection times of at least 2 or 2.5 hours. Less than that would start to get me a little concerned, I mean on the way over when missing a flight can cause a lot of problems such as starting a domino effect of cancelled lodging, etc. On the way back to US, I'm not quite as concerned as on the way over.

Roz, we had the same expeience as Kent on our Italy trip in June. We had three hours between legs, and got delayed on out 1st leg because of a "computer problem". Then there were more problems as we attempted to get on our 2nd flight. At the last minute we were escorted to our Lufthansa flight, but our aisle seats were gone( I am 6'4"), and my wife had to wait until everybody else had boarded before they found a place for her.

(Yes, I waited patiently at her side until they found her seat.)